Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh (Express photo)WITH HIS government under fire from all quarters for removing Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal as a member of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Chief Minister Amarinder Singh overruled the PPCB orders and got him renominated. A government statement Saturday said the CM has also ordered nomination of two environmentalists on PPCB panel instead of one as prescribed in the earlier guidelines to widen the ambit of its functioning.
The board would now have Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal and recently-nominated Baba Sewa Singh, the chairman of the Nishan-e-Sikhi Charitable Trust, Khadoor Sahib.
Seechewal, it is learnt, was removed by PPCB after National Green Tribunal fined the state government for Rs 50 crore for not checking river pollution. Incidentally, the report against the government was sent to NGT by Seechewal himself. This became the reason for his removal.
Pertinently, the board has currently 18 members, comprising chairman, five administrative secretaries from different government departments, five representatives from the local authorities, four members as representatives from industry, trade, commerce and fisheries etc, two members from the state controlled and managed corporations, besides a member secretary.
